Comb



June 7, 1938.

s. BRAVERMAN COMB Filed June 24, 1936 INVENTOR SHELLEY BRAVER MAN ATTORNEY Patented June 7, 1938 I UNITED STATES PATENT orrlce COlWB Application June 24, 1936, Serial No. 86,940-

2 Claims.

the reduced tendency of a comb to pull the hair,

facilitating the neat and smooth formation of waves inherent to the hair, and doing so gently and generally without violence to the hair.

To this end the invention contemplates the.

design of a comb having the back or body portion of the comb extend uni-laterally at the root portions of the teeth instead of having it form the lowermost portion of these roots as is conven- 20 tional.

Therefore, the invention revolves about the feature of having the space between adjacentteeth of the combin a sense uninterrupted from end to end whereby there is nothing between the 5 teeth or at the base thereof to interfere with the free passage of the comb through the users hair,

and there is' lacking the tendency of ordinary combs to wedge a subdivisional strand of hair into the notched space or crotch between the root 30 portions of. the teeth.

Another feature lies in providing certain edge formations in connection with the teeth of this comb, which have a stripping or cleansing effect as well as a setting effect upon .the users hair as ,35 it passes between the teeth.

Another feature lies in the fact that with the formation of the comb as herein contemplated, lateral grooves formed by the teeth serve to receive and hold therein a hair treatment substance of some kind which will apply itself to the hair as the hair is being combed. This substance, if a liquid, for example a wave setting lotion or water, is held by its power of adhesion or by some capillary effect to the surface of the groove, or

45 it may be cream or other cosmetics that is being' used for setting or waving the hair.

With these and possibly other objects and features of advantage, several embodiments of the invention have been illustrated by way of exam- 50 ple in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a simple form of comb employing this invention; Fig. 2 shows a partial plan view of the comb of Fig. 1'; Fig. 3 shows a vertical sectional view of the comb taken 55 along the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows a sectional side view taken along the line 4-4 in Fig.

2; Fig. 5 is the perspective view of a modified design of comb having duplex teeth; Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate modifications of the comb shown in Fig. 5 with respect to certain configurations. 5 A simple form of embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 1 in which the numeral l0 indicates the longitudinal back, base or body portion of the comb. Teeth II are arranged and shown to grow laterally out of the body portion i0 10 which is shown in Fig. 3 to be of'substantially D-. shaped cross-section having a substantially plane or slightly concave face l2 and a convex face or bight l3, both merging into relatively sharp edge portions. one of which, l4, points in the forward direction of the teeth, which edge portion is tofunction in a manner hereinafter to be described, v andwhich will hereinafter be called a hair stripping edge. In other words, the very edge or point of the edge portion M in fact defines the border line between the top portions and the root portions of the teeth. Consequently, the teeth may be said to consist of a freely extending top portion l5 substantially defined by the length of tooth extending from the edge M to the tip of the tooth, and a root portion 16 substantially de fined by the length of tooth extending laterally from edge to edge of the face I2 of the body portion ill of the comb. Between the root portions it there are thus formed grooves or channel portions H as shown in Fig. 4 through which the hair may pass. From Figs. 2 and 3 it can be seen that the edge portions I l constitute straight line bottom limitations of the grooves between the teeth, this formation being preferable for its effect upon the hair when combing.

This stripping effect of certain edge formations in this comb is further emphasized due to a preferred cross-section or profile of the teeth (see Fig. 4) according to which profile the trailing side portion lla, of the teeth is narrower than the opposite orentering side portion llb thereof. In fact the profile shows markedly pointed edge portions Ma to constitute the entering side of the teeth, thereby forming a constriction of the interstices at the entering side of the teeth. The edges Ma. also can be said to act as stripping edges with respect to the hair somewhat similar to the stripping effect of the edge portions it.

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification having substantially the same type of body portion designated as l8, but having a symmetrical or twin or duplex arrangement of teeth l9 and 20 extending in opposite direction from the body portion.

Consequently, the body portion is formed with two efiective stripping edges 2| and 22 respectively.

Another modification similar to that in Fig 5 is shown in Fig. 6. The difference lies largely in the more pronounced sharpness of the edges 23 and 24 in Fig. 6 over that inFig. 5. In this instancethe body portion 23a of the comb has concave contour portions 24a which provide acute stripping edges and form smooth collecting grooves for dust or dirt or the like stripped from the hair, from which grooves the .stripped matter can be conveniently and smoothly wiped away.

Fig. 7 shows a further modification of the body portion of a. comb type similar to that in Figs. 5

and 6, such modified body portion being given the more elaborate profile of a handle piece 24.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, in using acomb of this type, it will be clear that dirt cannot readily deposit between, and clog the interstices between the teeth, inasmuch as any dust, dirt, or other particles or their agglomerations will be stripped oil the hair and substantially be defiected outwardly of the body portion iii of the comb at the point of the edge portions I4. Should any deposit, Whatever may notv have stripped itself in the very process of combing, have collected between the root portions of the tank, that is within the grooves or channel portions II, it is obvious. that it can be readily removed due to access from the side of the teeth and brushed or wiped outalong the open-ended I grooved portion l 1.

Aside from features regarding the cleaning of the comb itself, an aspect of importance lies in the combing eifects obtained from the use of this comb, upon the hair. This is to say, that not only will this comb tend to pull the hair less readily, but it will leave the hair evenly and neatly set, and in a condition more apt to bring out and preserve the wavy character of the'hair or of a permanent wave. Evidently this is due to the freeness of the teeth, with which they are enabled to pass through the hair, leaving in their path, as if raked, neat subdivisional strands which may be said to derive additional guidance from the grooved portions I1. Moreover, the edge portions I4 as wellas Ma have a stripping effect upon the hair with attendant cleansing thereof, the efiect being much like a massaging of the subdivisional'hair strands through the effect of the edge portions I4, while the body portion 10 of the comb may press down upon the hair tending to leave the same in a neatly set-condition.

, portions of the teeth, the acuteness being defined by an angle substantially smaller than 90 More specifically, considering asubdivisional strand of hair, that is the one that passes between a pair of teeth, it is noted that such a strand must pass substantially through the cons'triction formed by the stripping edges a of the teeth before being allowed to expand again in thewidening portion of the interstice leaving the trailing side edges I'Ia of the teeth.

What has been said with respect to the functioning and combing effects of the comb shown. in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, applies substantially equally to the modifications shown in Figs. 5 to '7.

The use of a comb having the characteristics herein described greatly facilitates the applica tion of a hair treatment or grooming substance, such as hair waving lotion, cream, water, or cosmetics to the hair, in that such substance can be readily supplied to and held in the grooves or channel portions I! as indicated by the numeral 25. The very act of combing the hair with a comb so prepared will then apply the substance to the hair well distributed and in a manner desired.

I claim:

' 1. A comb having a longitudinal body portion and substantially evenly spaced apart teeth ex-' tending transversely therefrom, and having leading and trailing edge portions with respect to hair passing therethrough, characterized by the fact that thebody portion in cross-section is acutely shaped substantially in the direction of the free ends of the teeth, the acuteness being defined by an angle not over 45, said body portion forming a hair stripping edge directly traversing said leading edge portion of the teeth.

2. A comb having a longitudinal bodyportion and substantially evenly spaced apart teeth extending transversely therefrom, and having leading and trailing edge portions with respect to hair passing therethrough, characterized by the fact that the body portion in cross-section is acutely shaped and pointed substantially in the direction of the free ends of the teeth, and that it is designed and effective to form a hair stripping edge directly traversingsaid leading edge degrees, and furthermore in that the outside cohtour of the pointed portion is concavely curved to 1 constitute a smooth collecting groove for v stripped matter.

- SHELLEY BRAVERMAN. 

